Reels at Wehl Film Society has found Pearls of the Far East, an INDI (Independent) and award winning film which is not normally available in Australia through the normal channels.
The anthology is based on a series of short stories and a
novel, Between Two Mountains of Love, The Package of Cam le Tobacco,
Blood Moon, Beauty, The Diary of an Abandoned Woman, Love
is Out of Mind, and Beyond the Truth by Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc who
also wrote the screenplay and stars in the cinematic adaptation.
Unlike his Cloud
Atlas (2012) there is no intercutting this time and different actors are
used in each of the seven stories. These factors work in the favour of
the film as viewers are allowed the time to absorb each new world.
Filmmaker Cuong Ngo has taken a difficult creative path for his
feature debut by minimizing the dialogue and relying on the visual
impact of the images to tell his story.
The cinematography is gorgeous
and so is the cast which works with mixed results; whereas the Vietnam landscape
enhances the picture, the latter at moments contributes to a Harlequin romance
quality which is hard to ignore. The musical score accentuates the
internal conflicts and also helps to unify the different segments together.
Country of Origin: Canada/Vietnam
Released: 2011
Ratings and Starbox scores:
The Federation of Victorian Film Societies scoring it 4.7 stars out of 5.
Whitehorse Film Society in Melbourne Starbox rating of 3.9
